


Halloween

by foxdeer



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drunk Elves, First Meetings, Fluff, Halloween Costumes, House Party, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-23 04:05:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12498380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxdeer/pseuds/foxdeer
Summary: Legolas is a freshman at the University of Lorien, who has been invited at the last minute to a Halloween party with his roommate Meludir. Feeling the pressure to experience those 'classic college moments,' Legolas attends his first college house party. However, his costume is terrible, he knows hardly anybody on campus, and he worries that he is not the social butterfly that his roommate definitely appears to be.A short vignette of how Legolas meets Haldir in a modern AU setting.





	Halloween

“Can’t get that antler to stand up, huh?”

Legolas Thranduilion looked over his shoulder to see his roommate Meludir leaning on the doorframe. The pair had only been roommates for a couple of weeks, but already Legolas felt like he had suddenly acquired a brother. For the last hour or so Legolas had been struggling to fix the antler into the correct position on his homemade headband, but try as he might, it wasn’t going the way he had envisioned. It didn’t take long for Meludir to take pity on his roommate, who was clearly out of his depth, and he hurried forward to help fix his floppy antler.

Within mere seconds, Meludir’s skilful hands had fixed it. “There, see? You look great. I could do with your hair though, it’d really match my look.”

“We’re not trading,” Legolas told him, looking Meludir’s costume up and down. “I wouldn’t be caught dead in that little clothing.”

It was only because of a last-minute invite to a Halloween party that the pair stood in their respective costumes, although Legolas had to admit that Meludir’s looked far less amateur than his did. Undoubtedly Legolas’ long, sleek blonde hair would have matched wonderfully with the merman costume that Meludir had fashioned for himself, but he was wearing so little clothing that Legolas shuddered to imagine what his father would have said if he found out that his son had worn something so revealing all across campus. 

Meludir’s merman costume was made from a glittery translucent blue fabric that was scalloped on the edges to imitate fish scales, and draped around his body like a see-through toga. Any skin that wasn’t covered in translucent material looked as though Meludir had bathed in glitter. He had worn some baby blue tight swimming trunks underneath to keep his modesty, but only because Legolas had told him that he would refuse to leave the room with Meludir unless he wore more clothing. Eventually Meludir had caved and agreed, stating that he would only feel comfortable going if Legolas was also there. 

By contrast, Legolas’s costume was as make-shift as they came. He had rushed to his nearest shopping mall to buy a light brown t-shirt and some dark brown leggings, which were one size too small and far too tight. He had modified them with white paint speckles on the back and front to imitate deerskin. When Legolas had returned to his dorm with his purchases and tried them on, Meludir had refused to let him return the leggings that were too small. At least twenty times he had repeated that they showed off the shapeliness of Legolas’ bum and thighs, however this did not dissuade the blonde from feeling incredibly uncomfortable in them. As Legolas’ hair was a bright blonde, Meludir’s auburn hair would have suited this costume far more than Legolas’ did, but having seen just how much flesh was on show with Meludir’s, any chance of swapping costume was out of the window.

Meludir laughed at the prudish look on Legolas’s face. “You need to loosen up.”

Eventually the pair left their dorm room, heading out into the stark, wintery October night. There was a chill in the air that hinted at the change of season, and all around, the campus of the University of Lorien was buzzing with students in varying costumes. There were multiple parties happening this evening, but Legolas did wonder who would end up at the same one as them. He felt cold in his costume, so he could not imagine how cold Meludir must feel wearing next to nothing. 

Both Meludir and Legolas were freshmen to the University of Lorien – a highly prestigious university with a reputable history. Its buildings were mostly made of wood and detailed with elegant carvings of floral patterns around the windows and doors. The University of Lorien campus boasted the record of being the safest university in Arda, with many of its students enjoying the benefits of a small college town nearby to a vast, lush forest. 

Legolas and Meludir were halfway across the campus just passed the Yavanna Library, when they heard a shout from behind them. 

“Hey! Mel! Wait up!”

Rushing across a plaza from a different college dorm, a set of identical twins approached – one dressed as Aladdin and the other dressed as a clown. Legolas did not recognise either of them, and he was quite pleased to see that the boy in the clown costume looked as though he had thrown his costume together at the last minute too. In the end both boys caught up quickly with Legolas and Meludir.

“You guys look great!” Meludir exclaimed, hugging them both excitedly whilst Legolas stood back and watched on awkwardly. “I’m glad you showed up – I’m not sure I know the way to Rumil’s…”

“You can’t miss it,” the boy in the clown costume said, beginning to walk in the direction of the house party.

As the four of them began the journey away from campus to the more residential areas of Lorien, Legolas was not in the least bit surprised that Meludir clearly knew these two strange dark-haired twins. Meludir was a social butterfly. He’d made friends with basically all of their freshman class within the first two weeks, and spent the rest of his time spreading his network amongst other groups. He had joined three societies (Dance, Drama and Acapella) at their first week of orientation. 

Meanwhile Legolas followed Meludir like a moth to a flame, basking in the light of his social effortlessness. It wasn’t that Legolas struggled to make friends. It was just that, being an only child, he preferred his own company and wasn’t so outgoing in his approach to meeting others. Legolas had started to speak to the people in his classes when he felt like it, but he wasn’t clamouring to spend endless amounts of time with them outside of the classroom. In the end, Legolas hadn’t signed up to a single society. He didn’t feel he met the criteria for any of them.

“But you’re not throwing yourself into college life!” Meludir had chastised him after he had just signed up for his third society and was considering a fourth with the ‘Gaming Nerds’ society. 

When Legolas had scoffed at this and explained that there was more to college than joining societies, Meludir had clearly not agreed with him. He had then joked that Legolas was a proverbial wallflower, awaiting the college life moment in which he would inevitably come out of his shell and flourish. Legolas had noted that he didn’t feel that there were archetypal college life experiences, and that everyone’s experience was probably different.

“You’ve seen the movies,” Meludir had told him, rolling his eyes and reading another pamphlet about another society he most certainly did not need to join. “College life is all about endless house parties, running from the cops when they get busted, promiscuous moments with your classmates and dying from shame if you ever see them again on campus.”

He had laughed at that, but Legolas had only internally rolled his eyes and dismissed it. He was so lost in his daydream about the first couple of weeks of university life, that he hadn’t even noticed that the boy dressed as Aladdin had stopped to walk a few paces behind with him. Behind the slightly over-the-top make-up, the boy who walked with him was rather appealing with rich brown eyes and black hair that hung to the middle of his back. Legolas was quite surprised by this given that his brother’s hair appeared much shorter, and Legolas’ own hair was almost as long.

The boy smiled politely at him with a sweet smile that showed his perfectly white teeth. “I like your stag costume,” he said, the smile turning to a smirk.

“Thanks,” Legolas stammered back, plucking at his light brown t-shirt and looking away from such an intimidating grin. “I threw it together at the last minute.”

“I feel like I know you from somewhere,” the boy continued, eying Legolas up and down with a slight squint. He paused for a moment before having a ‘eureka’ moment. “Do you take some Biology classes? Are you Legolas?”

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“Thought so!” He continued to grin. “I’m Elladan – I sit towards the back by the door in Biology. So are you studying humans or animals?”

Now Legolas put his mind to it, he did remember seeing a boy who looked slightly like Elladan in his class, but his hair was normally tied back into a messy bun. 

“Animals,” Legolas replied proudly, knowing that it was very difficult to be accepted onto the prestigious Veterinary Science course at U of L. However before he could say much more, they rounded a street corner and had clearly found their way to the party.

The only way that Legolas could think to describe it was akin to carnage. The house was a little quaint wooden house (as were most of the houses in Lorien), with big bay windows and an oak front door. However that front door was wide open to the street, and students in a variety of Halloween costumes were sprawled all over the old-fashioned front lawn and flowerbeds. The music was blaring; they could clearly hear it from further up the street. As they got closer, many of the students were not in a fit state to be continuing at a party anyway. Legolas looked concerned at one particular girl who was projectile vomiting into a nearby bush, and – he checked his phone – it was only 9:30pm.

Upon squeezing their way into the incredibly packed house, Elladan and his brother quickly dispersed into the lounge on the right and greeted some other students that they knew leaving Meludir and Legolas alone in the hallway. There was a set of stairs and another doorway to left that appeared to lead to an equally busy dining room. Meludir grabbed Legolas’ hand and pulled him down the corridor that led to the kitchen towards the back of the house. All the time, his auburn-haired friend stood on tip-toes, craning his head for looking somebody that Legolas did not know. Eventually, in the kitchen, he found the boy in question who cheered when he’d seen who had entered the room.

“Meludir! You made it!” In a flash of silver hair, he had strode across the kitchen and enveloped Meludir in a hug. “Oh, and you brought your roommate too!”

Up close, Legolas could see that this boy stood just a few inches shorter than him. He had bright silver hair that was backcombed to stand on end, and was wearing a medical coat that had the words ‘mad scientist’ written crudely upon it, as though you couldn’t guess what he was. His dark blue eyes were rimmed with charcoal to look as though he had just had something blow up in his face. Politely he smiled at Legolas, his arm still half around Meludir.

“Yeah Rumil, this is Legolas.”

Rumil said a quick hello, before grabbing two cups of beer off the sideboard and shoving them into their hands. 

“Well, drink up! Orophin won a bunch of cash on horse last week, so drink away. It’s all on us,” he assured them, though his attention wavered slightly as he caught sight of Elladan dressed as Aladdin. “Uh, excuse me, I’ve just got to-“ Before he could say anything further, he had left them to go to speak to the Aladdin in question.

There was a general buzz around the place. Many people were bustling in and out of the back door, and Legolas could see them milling around outside in the back garden too. He sipped nervously on his beer feeling somewhat out of place. At least, for the moment, Meludir was still with him. However, he could see his companion’s attention was being drawn to numerous guests as he surveyed the other costumes on display.

“How do you know Rumil?” Legolas asked Meludir, a bit worried that he was being boring. Again, he fiddled with his costume.

Meludir focused back on Legolas in a heartbeat, frowning slightly. “I didn’t say?”

Yet before Meludir could say exactly how he knew Rumil and subsequently had been invited to his Halloween party, four loud girls came bustling into the kitchen from the garden wearing less clothing than Meludir - which Legolas thought was quite a stretch. All of the girls were stunning, dressed as zombie lifeguards and wearing little more than stringy red bikinis. Without even paying attention to the boys at first, the girls grabbed their beers and chugged them down. Two of them had wandered into the next room with no thought to their friends, leaving Meludir and Legolas alone with a girl with long ginger hair that reached her bottom and another with dark brown hair the colour of milk chocolate.

The girl with the brown hair had clearly taken a shine to Meludir, and immediately she began an outrageous attempt to flirt with him. This, however, left the ginger-haired girl and Legolas alone to themselves whilst the other two were wrapped up in each other. To Legolas’ surprise, Meludir was flirting back almost as much as he was being flirted with. He had always assumed that Meludir swung the other way – like he did – but clearly he had either misjudged that or this was just harmless fun.

All of a sudden, the ginger girl seemed to sidle up beside Legolas. Her hand groped at the antlers on his head.

“Nice antlers,” she whispered in his ear, smirking as she pulled away to see his reaction.

Legolas was trying his best not to show that he was internally mortified. “Thanks,” he stammered, edging away from her a little. “Meludir made them for me.”

“Your hair is really pretty,” she said, grabbing a thick strand of it between her fingers and twirling it without much thought. “Is this your natural hair colour?”

Not sure how to answer and feeling increasingly uncomfortable, Legolas simply replied. “Um, yes?”

Without much thought to Legolas, the girl roughly pulled on the strand of his hair, laying it over the top of her head as though trying it on and calling out loudly to her friend: “Look, see Anariel – this is the colour I want to dye my hair.”

Anariel did not seem to appreciate the interruption to her shameless seduction of Meludir, and she looked over with disdain at her ginger-haired friend. Though, as soon as she laid eyes on Legolas, her whole countenance changed and she suddenly became increasingly interested in what her friend had to say.

“Oh my gosh, Tauriel! Look at him!” Anariel squealed loudly, drawing the attention of people from the other rooms. She spoke about Legolas as though he was not a human being, and looked at him as though he was a puppy in need of a home. “Little freshman in his adorable deer costume with his little antlers!”

“I made those antlers,” Meludir told her, attempting to regain her interest.

Acutely aware that he was being watched by a lot of people - many of whom were commenting on the adorableness of his makeshift costume - Legolas quickly excused himself and went beer-in-tow through to the corridor to find a bathroom. Luckily in here there were fewer people, just a couple making out on the stairs who impressively didn’t stop kissing as Legolas squeezed passed them. With a few more steps, he had reached a landing with nobody in sight and no obvious sign for the bathroom. Taking a complete guess, he walked forward and strode confidently into the first door on the left.

It was obvious from the moment he stepped in that Legolas had not found the bathroom but a bedroom, yet his curiosity peaked as he spied a few posters on the bedroom walls of movies he was into. He closed the door behind him quietly, enjoying the solace of walking around an unknown’s bedroom (possibly Rumil’s?) in the dark with nothing but the moonlight through the window to see by. In daylight, he reckoned that the walls were a soft blue. The bed was towards the back wall, facing the window, and had a few comfy cushions thrown on and some reading glasses on the bedside table.

Knowing he should probably be leaving, Legolas wandered around the room sipping on his beer intermittently and thinking that this room could not belong to Rumil as there was a large wooden letter ‘H’ on a bookshelf beside a desk. Upon that desk was a laptop that further proved this room was not Rumil’s, as the laptop had three small letters – initials – carved into the corner: ‘HRM.’ Intrigued, Legolas perused the vast collection of CD’s and books, spying a collection of vinyls that he took a peak through too. All of the music and literature was well within Legolas’ taste, and he was equally pleased to see that amongst his books was one of Legolas’ favourites – a small tattered version of ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.’

Beside the reading glasses was a small photo frame, which Legolas inspected in the moonlight. Three little boys – one a child, one a toddler and the other a tiny baby – all with silver hair and the same dark blue eyes. Clearly all brothers, and given how much the little child looked just like Rumil, Legolas began to question the initial thought that this room did not belong to Rumil. 

Suddenly, the door handle moved and the door opened a crack letting in the orange light from the hallway. Legolas stood completely still in his panic, wanting to hide and yet unable to move simultaneously. Had he not been so panicked, he might have laughed at the fact that he ironically must have looked exactly like a deer trapped in headlights. Just as the door opened further, Legolas haphazardly chucked the photo frame back onto the bedside table, listening to the giggling in the hallway.

Then, from outside the room, a deep voice called up the stairs. “Hey, you guys! Bedrooms are off-limits! If you want to do that, you can go elsewhere.”

Immediately, the giggling stopped and Legolas heard someone apologising. Not taking any chances, and whilst his legs had regained some feeling, Legolas rushed into the in-built cupboard pulling it almost shut to see whether the person came to inspect the bedroom that he’d just refused entry to. However, after at least five minutes of standing in the cupboard in silence, nobody seemed to come to check there wasn’t anybody in here. Sighing with relief, Legolas downed the rest of his beer and hurried out of the room.

After a quick visit to the bathroom, and a moment standing in front of the mirror to adjust his eyes back to the light and to straighten his antlers, Legolas rushed back downstairs. It seemed he had descended into further chaos than the carnage he had endured when he had first arrived at the party. The house was full to the brim with party-goers, and two short, curly-haired boys had begun smoking and handing out spliffs to whoever was interested in buying. Legolas hated the smell of weed. It made his stomach turn. Thinking it would be best to get away from the sickly, herbal smell of smoke, he headed back to the kitchen to grab another drink, secretly hoping that the ginger-haired girl, Tauriel, had departed.

Upon arriving in the kitchen, Meludir was nowhere to be found. A few students that Legolas didn’t know were forcing a vampire to down a vase full of beer and other questionable liquids. By this point, Legolas did not know or recognise anyone, and he was severely tempted to head back to his dorm and call it a night. Morosely, he poured himself another drink and decided to head out into the back garden to see if he could find somebody – anybody – that he recognised.

The back garden was a long rectangle, with a small deck and what probably used to be beautiful beds of flowers except they had been trampled upon by people at the party. Legolas wandered out into the cool night, enjoying the fresh air instead of the stench of alcohol, sweat and weed that was accumulating inside the house. Aimlessly he meandered around the garden, but try as he might, all of the people he walked passed did not know him and he didn’t recognise them either. He was beginning to think that Meludir had bailed on him, and left him to fend for himself at this place.

Just then, Legolas made the decision to do one last scout of the house and if he couldn’t find Meludir then he would return to campus. The party was likely to be shut down by police soon anyway.

In spite of this decision, as Legolas was walking back to the house, a boy dressed as a pirate caught him by the arm. 

“Hey,” he said politely, smiling with a few fake gold teeth. “You’re Legolas, right?”

“Um, yes,” Legolas replied, trying to wrack his brain and remember whether he had ever met this student before.

“I’m Aragorn,” he said, clearly noticing the blank look on Legolas’ face. “Remember me? I was your moving-in helper at orientation.”

As if somebody had switched on a lightbulb, Legolas recalled exactly what Aragorn looked like. Nevertheless, it was vastly different to how Aragorn looked now with a long, black curly wig, thick eyeliner around the one eye that wasn’t covered by an eye-patch, and what must have been fake tattoos on his arms.

“Oh yeah – hey! Great costume by the way, you look completely different.”

“Thanks – I’m growing out a beard too, so-“ Aragorn went to carry on, but his eyes followed a very pretty girl dressed as Black Widow. “Know that girls name? I keep seeing her everywhere. She’s so hot.”

Legolas had never seen her – or most people at this party – before in his life. “Why don’t you just ask her what her name is?”

Whatever reply Aragorn was about say died on his lips, as the girl in question went up to another student dressed as Captain America and began to make out with him. From behind them, Meludir burst out of the back door to the house with Elladan and his brother in tow. Rumil followed shortly behind, rushing to keep up with the boys and dragging along another boy with silver hair who looked almost identical to him. Legolas’ mind flashed back to the photo. Perhaps this was whose room it was?

Regardless, the five of them took seats on the deck. Meludir was obviously wasted, smacking Rumil on the arm and exclaiming so loudly that the whole garden could hear: “You are so mean to me, Rumil!”

Whatever Rumil had said that was so mean, Legolas didn’t know or care to find out. He felt increasingly fed-up with this house party. He was disappointed in his costume. He felt like he did not fit in, and these supposed ‘college life experiences’ were perhaps not for him. Sighing, he headed back to the kitchen to grab one more drink before heading back to his dorm on campus. Legolas was almost certain that he remembered the way.

There was nobody in the kitchen when he got there. He poured a beer and had almost downed it, when he felt the presence of someone else in the room. Legolas turned to face whoever was there and choked a little on his drink. Try as he might, he couldn’t help the blush that bloomed on his cheeks. This must have been the third brother in the photo, and he was incredibly handsome. All three brothers were good-looking but this brother was exactly what Legolas was attracted to in a partner.

He was taller than the other two brothers, and his silver hair had been cut to his shoulders. His eyes were the same deep navy, however they seemed more inviting than either of his brothers, and his jaw was more angular in comparison. He was well-built and muscular, in particular in his arms, which was always a plus for Legolas. These were currently folded over the chest of his skeleton costume, and what face-paint he had put on at the beginning of the night was beginning to wear off and show his pale skin beneath. Legolas took a large sip of his drink, attempting to use the cup to hide his obvious staring and blushing.

“Are you a friend of Rumil’s?” he asked in the same deep voice that Legolas had heard earlier when he was hiding in the bedroom upstairs.

“Kind of,” Legolas shrugged, nervously taking another sip of drink. “My roommate is Meludir.”

“God – good luck with that,” he joked, walking to the kitchen window and nearer to where Legolas stood. Legolas followed his gaze out to the garden, where Meludir was attempting to tightrope walk on the neighbour’s fence. “You’re going to want to strangle him by the end of this year.”

Legolas laughed lightly. “Probably. He’s ok though.”

He turned away from Meludir’s foolish drunken antics, resting himself on the kitchen worktop and turning to face Legolas. 

“So, you’re a freshman?” He observed, his eyes roaming up and down Legolas’ costume. Legolas took another nervous sip of beer. “I mean, of course you’re a freshman, because I’m pretty sure I would have remembered seeing you wandering around campus.”

Legolas’ heart began to beat furiously. Was this guy flirting with him? Did he mean to look so suggestively at him, or had that just been plain interest and Legolas was reading the signs wrong? No, surely not. He decided the best tactic was to just play it cool. This guy was far too attractive for him – way out of his league.

“Um yeah, I’m majoring in Vet Science. Are – are you in-?”

“I’m a junior studying Military Strategy,” he answered to stop Legolas’ stammering. “I’m Haldir - Rumil and Orophin are my little brothers.”

Haldir. H. So it was actually Haldir’s bedroom that Legolas had accidentally investigated when he was upstairs. Secretly Legolas was relieved that he had avoided being caught by Haldir in his bedroom, because it would have been far more embarrassing if someone he found attractive had caught him sneaking around their music and book collection. Legolas used this moment to take another sip of his beer and hide the fact that he was now doubly attracted to Haldir, especially knowing that they had those things in common.

Another group of students entered the kitchen, pushing roughly passed Legolas so that they could reach the cans of beer on the side. Haldir frowned slightly at this, reaching around them to grab two cans of beer and handing one to Legolas. Without saying anything further, he gently grabbed Legolas by the wrist and pulled him into the corridor, taking a seat on the first step at the bottom of the stairs. It was cosy, but Legolas joined him, feeling their shoulders awkwardly brush against each other. There was nobody in the corridor anymore, and Legolas had a feeling that they were reaching that time in the morning where people started to pass out.

“You know, I hate these house parties,” Haldir sighed, opening his can of beer and taking a long swig.

“Really?” Legolas mumbled, trying not to let the relief flood into every word. “Me too. I just float around all night.” 

Haldir nodded, glancing over at Legolas quickly. “I only agreed to it because Rumil is new to campus and well, college experiences and all that. I feel like no matter how awkward it is, and actually not that much fun, we all have to suffer through it.”

Suddenly Legolas could hear Meludir’s voice in his head telling him all about what he should be experiencing at college. He couldn’t help but laugh, fiddling with the ring pull on his beer. 

“Yeah,” Legolas grinned to himself. “Well, I suppose you don’t have to throw anymore now.”

“Are you kidding? He’s in freshman year – he has the energy to throw one every week,” Haldir sighed, downing some more of his beer. Afterwards Legolas felt as though there was something further he wanted to say. He remained quiet, waiting until Haldir said: “I’d definitely throw more if you came though.”

Try as he might, Legolas couldn’t hide the blush at those words. He had been right earlier in the kitchen. Haldir was flirting with him. He could hardly believe his luck. Their eyes met for a moment, and Legolas felt something change in the atmosphere between them, but whatever it was vanished as soon as Tauriel burst into the corridor. She rushed up to the stairs, shoving them both aside in her haste and pushing Legolas hard into the wall. Tauriel apologised as she went, but nothing was said between the boys who sat in a tongue-tied silence at the bottom of the stairs.

Haldir recovered first. “Your antler has…” he reached out a hand, gently pushing his homemade antler headband back into place. His hand lingered slightly longer than was needed.

Legolas felt the place where he touched him burn slightly, and not in a bad way. He stuttered his thanks, unable to look Haldir directly in the eye for fear of withering completely. He had read all about chemistry between people, but he had never experienced it before. Legolas supposed that this electric feeling was exactly what it felt like.

“You look cute as a stag,” Haldir mumbled, though the room was so quiet away from the party that he might as well have shouted. 

“Just something I threw together,” Legolas garbled, plucking at the front of his makeshift t-shirt. 

Then, quite naturally, Haldir made a move towards him, and Legolas felt his heart race at a million miles an hour. But their moment was interrupted, when Tauriel exited the bathroom and bounded down the stairs in her red bikini, pushing her way passed the both of them but thanking them nonetheless. Legolas could have killed her. The moment had been ruined, and Haldir had returned to drinking his beer – miles away from thinking about kissing Legolas. If Legolas had the confidence, he would lean in and just do it. Yet there was something that stopped him. He didn’t quite feel comfortable to completely take the reins just yet. He was disappointed. Quietly, he sipped on his beer.

After a moment, Haldir asked: “What’s your name?”

“Huh?”

Legolas had been taken aback by the question. Had he not told Haldir this? It was strange – he felt like they had known each other for a lifetime, and yet it was glaringly obvious that Haldir knew very little about him. Had he really been so keen on kissing a stranger who did not even know his name?

“I don’t know your name,” Haldir told him, “and I can’t call you ‘cute stag boy’ for the rest of your life.”

Legolas blushed, their eyes connecting again. That colour navy was so unusual. “Oh – it’s Legolas.” 

“Nice to meet you, Legolas,” Haldir repeated, his lips curving into a dazzling smile.

Unintentionally Legolas could not stop looking at Haldir’s lips. Perhaps it was the disappointment of not kissing him, or not having the guts to just initiate it himself. Or maybe the alcohol had finally hit him and he was unable to focus on anything else. Either way, Legolas loved the way his name sounded from those lips. However his attention was drawn away from Haldir when another party-goer dressed as a werewolf waltzed through their corridor.

If he didn’t kiss Haldir now he never would. If he didn’t do it now then he would have to do it in front of other people, or even worse, they may get interrupted every time he tried to. It was now or never. Haldir was looking at him. He was acutely aware of the fact their shoulders and thighs were touching on this bottom step. Meludir had said his thighs looked good in these leggings. 

Gathering his courage, Legolas leant forward towards Haldir – not quite touching his lips but allowing for Haldir to close the gap if he wished. Luckily, it did not take long for Haldir to catch on and Legolas felt a wave of success. The kiss was soft, passionate, and slow – not what Legolas had expected from a drunken kiss at a college house party. His heart was beating so loud that he was certain that Haldir could hear it. Legolas felt a hand on his thigh, and he threw his arm around Haldir’s shoulders in response, still completely shocked that this guy could be into him.

When they finally broke apart Haldir smiled softly at him, and Legolas – giddy with success – grinned back.

“My bedroom is off-limits this evening,” Haldir muttered so only Legolas could hear him, as heavy rock music started up in the lounge. His hand squeezed Legolas’ thigh. “But if you want to go upstairs, I can make an exception?”

Stunned, Legolas said nothing. He didn’t have the heart to admit that he’d already been in Haldir’s off-limits bedroom for an entirely different reason this evening. Instead, thinking that he’d much like to visit it for further perusing and anything else Haldir had planned, he stood up in a more confident manner than he felt and began to climb the stairs. It took Haldir a little longer to twig that Legolas intended to make full use of the off-limits bedroom. However, Haldir hurried behind Legolas, eventually pinning him to the door of his bedroom staring into Legolas’ icy-blue eyes. 

“I thought you would say no,” he admitted, blushing slightly and leaning in for a quick kiss.

Legolas smirked at him. “Perhaps you could show me some more college experiences?”

Haldir burst out into laughter, pushing down the door handle and walking Legolas backwards into his bedroom.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first work on AO3, and the first time I've ever published my work on this site so any feedback is welcome! Thanks! :)


End file.
